The Crash Room

Monday, 12 September 2016

Magnus vs Helynna - Mangled Metal 10 Points

That last game was a bit quick. It hammered home the lesson that you should always protect your warcaster, but wasn't the most exciting play experience. Consequently we decided on a re-match instead of expanding out to 25 points.

Army Lists

Magnus the Traitor
Mangler
Rover
Renegade

vs

Magister Helynna
Manticore
Griffon
Chimera
Gorgon

Scenario

We continue to battle it out until the first warcaster is dead.

Set Up

Myantek won the roll and decided to go first. I picked my side because there was less stuff in my way on the approach. With all her guns and the ability to slow me down I felt the need to close quickly.

Turn 1

Retribution

The Chimera Apparated (place completely within 2" during the upkeep phase.) forward. All the Myrmidons ran into the ruins except the Griffon. Helynna cast Rhythm of War (Warjacks in the battlegroup can advance 3 inches after all models have activated) and then cast Deceleration (+2 ARM vs Ranged and Magic attacks.), then advanced behind the Gorgon. All the jacks then advanced 3 inches.

Mercs

Magnus cast Death Ward (+2 ARM and pick hit locations) on the Mangler, Snipe (+4 Rng on target model.) on the Rover, and Blur (+3 Defense against range and magic attacks.) on the Renegade. Magnus then charged the Griffon, ending his activation in cover. The Mangler and Rover ran to flank Magnus while the Renegade ended up behind the Mangler.

Turn 2

Retribution

Helynna upkept Rhythm of War and assigned two focus to the Manticore while the Chimera Apparated. The Manticore advanced and rolled three for its number of shots. The first shot struck home with a boosted to hit roll, and the damage roll was 6,6,4, doing 10 points of damage to the Renegade and crippling its left arm. The second shot was also boosted to hit but bounced, while the third shot missed.

The Chimera and Gorgon ran, while Helynna and the Griffon advanced. Helynna cast Deceleration again and then the jacks rearranged themselves using Rhythm of War, with the Manticore attempting to tuck itself behind the ruins.

Mercs

Magnus upkept his spells for free due to his Resourceful ability, and gave two focus to the Mangler and one to the Renegade. Magnus activated first and moved base to base with the Renegade, then used his Repair ability to fix 4 points of damage, bringing the arm back on line. He then cast Iron Aggression (Target warjack may run, charge, or slam for free. Melee attack rolls on the warjack are boosted.) on the Mangler. Lastly he used his feat, Hit and Run (Models in battlegroup gain Parry. After all models have activated all the models in his battlegroup can run for free.).

The Renegade aimed at the Manticore and shot its Obliterator Rocket. A boosted roll hit it and knocked it down, but a mediocre boosted damage roll only did 5 points to its field. The Mangler then charged it for free thanks to Iron Aggression. I had been worried the Obliterator might miss and the boosted to hit rolls would be needed, but no such worries. With the Manticore knocked down the Mangler hit with all its attacks, destroying the Manticore with its last blow.

Lastly the Rover advanced towards the Griffon, shooting it and doing 4 points to its field. After that the feat activated. The Mangler ran base to base with the Chimera, while the Rover and Renegade formed a wall with Magnus behind them.

Turn 3

Retribution

Helynna dropped Rhythm of War and assigned two focus to both the Chimera and Gorgon. Helynna advanced, boosted to hit, and cast Hand of Destruction (Models in battlegroup get and additional die, them drop the lowest, for attack and damage rolls against this model.) on the Mangler, leaving her at zero focus. She then used her feat Arcantrik Aptitude (+3 ARM to friendly models. Remove all damage from warjack power fields. Ignore the effects of crippled systems for one round.). The Chimera then used Combo-Smite (*attack. Make a melee attack and double the weapon POW when before adding to warjack STR.) and smashed the Mangler for 10 points. It bought an attack, hit, and boosted damage to do some more. The Gorgon then charged and also did a Combo-Smite. It also bought and boosted damage, leaving the Mangler at 1 point in its movement system.

The Griffon then ran to engage Magnus, the Rover, and the Renegade.

Mercs

Magnus upkept everything for free and assigned two focus to the Renegade and one to the Rover. The Rover activated first and did a head butt power attack on the Griffon. It boosted to hit and knocked the smaller jack down. Magnus then cast Iron Aggression on the Renegade, leaving himself at one focus. The Mangler then activated and did a Thresher attack (*attack. This model makes a simultaneous melee attack against all models in range with this weapon.) but didn't do anything thanks to his arm being crippled.

Lastly the Renegade charged Helynna, for free thanks to Iron Agression. It smashed into her and hammered away, but Helynna's feat saved her, the +3 ARM being enough to keep her alive at 2 points.

Turn 4

Retribution

After a lot of pondering Myantek did not have Helynna upkeep Hand of Destruction. The Gorgon and Griffon were both assigned two focus. The Chimera activated first. More pondering ensued as Myantek decided whether to use the Chimera's one focus on the hit or damage roll. She eventually decided on the to hit roll as she needed a five to hit there and only a four for damage. It hit, and she rolled enough to do the single damage point needed to destroy the Mangler.

Helynna activated next and cast Hand of Destruction on Magnus through the Chimera's arc node. She boosted and it hit. The Gorgon activated next, and charged Magnus. It hit Magnus and did five points of damage. The next attack did ten points and Magnus spent his last focus point to reduce it to five. The last attack did nothing.

The Griffon stood up and swung its shield at Magnus and did two points. The spear then missed. It bought an attack, hit, and the boosted attack reduced Magnus to 2 points. It bought its final attack, hit, and managed to kill Magnus.

Afterward

Defenstrator

Well that didn't go quite as planned. When Myantek messed up and left the Manticore in charge range of the Mangler I thought I had it in the bag. I specifically made sure that Magnus couldn't buy it and that the Chimera couldn't escape by Apparating.

Little did I realise that escape was not her plan.

I suppose I could have beat up the Griffon instead. But it was ARM 21 with the feat up, and I didn't think I'd be able to do it. And if I went for the more dangerous jacks I'd be leaving the Griffon way to close to Magnus. Instead I tried to end it. In hind sight think I might have been better off just taking the free strikes from the Griffon and trying to shoot Helynna with the Rover. But I was paranoid about the Renegade getting its right arm crippled from a free strike, so I went for it and failed. Then Myantek went for it and succeeded.

Myantek

I was pretty sure he had me after he got the Manticore. Facing down
two heavies with none is very daunting. I thought I'd left the thing
out of range too. Then it really became an all or nothing gambit.
Activation order was key. Figuring out which thing had to act when and
playing the odds. I'm still experimenting with how far apart things can
get and where I want these guys placed. I won this game but I
definitely don't have it figured out. Frankly, I'd like another couple
of games at this level to just worry about the battle group.

Sunday, 4 September 2016

I haven't painted anything in so long. Well, I haven't finished anything in a long time. I've started lots of things. When I started painting this model he was just a Gorax and the only thing in my faction with Primal. Within days of finishing him he was a Gorax Rager, lost a point of Fury and was playing second fiddle to a Feral Warpwolf.

As you can see, this is the original Gorax model. I've had to touch it up a few times since I finished painting it because he keeps falling on his face. I'm not sure of his utility in the army I'm currently running but I've had the thing since Mark I so I felt it needed to be done.

I'm OK with how it turned out. Especially considering how long a time my paints were sitting unused. He's mostly naked so dry brushing fur is a good way to get back on track.

Friday, 2 September 2016

Magnus vs Helynna - Mangled Metal, 10 Points

It's been fun so far, but now it's time to increase the points. We each had ten points to spend, which could only be added to the battlegroup. For me it was easy. Magnus is the only one that can take his unique Renegade light warjack, and it is ten points exactly so it went straight in. It stands out on a number of levels. It's the Mercs only arc node, it can really grind through things in melee with both Critical Shred and Sustained Attack, and it has a one shot Rng 14, POW 16, AOE 4, auto-knockdown gun.

Myantek decided to add more control aspects to her army with a Gorgon. Anything shot by it becomes -2 SPD, which should give her even more options with all the movement shenanigans she already has.

Army Lists

Magnus the Traitor
Mangler
Rover
Renegade

vs

Magister Helynna
Manticore
GriffonChimera
Gorgon

Scenario

At 10 points the scenario continues to be Mangled Metal. We fight until the enemy caster is dead.

Set Up

I won the roll and decided go first. Myantek decided to pick the side with the trees to hide behind.

Turn 1

Mercs

Magnus put Snipe (+4 Rng on target model) on the Rover, Blur (+3 Defense against range and magic attacks) on the Renegade, and Death Ward (+2 ARM and pick hit locations) on the Mangler. He then charged the a Retribution jack and moved 8 inches before his turned ended with the failed charge. The Mangler, Renegade, and Rover all ran.
This probably sounds familiar to the other games but he's an upkeep caster. It's what he does.

Retribution

The turn started with the Chimera Apperating (place completely within 2" during the upkeep phase) forward. Helynna cast Rhythm of War (Warjacks in the battlegroup can advance 3 inches after all models have activated) and Deceleration (+2 ARM vs Ranged and Magic attacks.) and advanced. The jacks all ran forward and the used Rhythm of War to shift around a bit.

Turn 2

Mercs

Magnus upkept his spells for free thanks to his Resourceful ability. I decided to go for it and try and live them dream, and assigned one focus to both the Rover and Renegade. After doing some measuring to see if everything was in range the Renegade advanced and shot its Obliterator shot at Helynna. It hit directly and knocked her down doing 13 points of damage. Helynna spent a focus to abosrb five damage.

Magnus then cast Arcantrik Bolt (Cost 2, Rng 10, POW 12, A warjack damaged becomes stationary for one round) through the Renegades arc node, boosting to hit and then damage. Helynna took 11 more damage points and spent her last focus to reduce that to 6 and live.

Finally the Rover advanced and shot Helynna with its boosted POW 14 gun and that was that.

Afterward

Defenstrator

Well I went for it and it paid off. Myantek had made sure she wasn't in charge range of any of my models and was planning to start shooting me up next turn. But Helynna was hanging out in the open and I was able to put all my shots into her. The lesson? Assassination wins games
It wasn't a great game though, so we're going to be playing it over again next week and put the lessons learned into action.

Myantek

This game can be best summed up with a Penny Arcade Warmachine quote. Well that's bullshit, and you're bullshit, and your whole army is bullshit, and this whole table is bullshit, except my side which is balanced.https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/02/14

Sunday, 28 August 2016

In Mark 3 PP decided to make Swordsmen more of a staple and priced them accordingly. The funny thing is I liked them in Mark 2 just fine, and like them a bit less in the Mark 3 environment. Yes there's lots of jacks for them to beat up on, but infantry clearing got better as well, and aside from their DEF 14 Swordsmen are pretty squishy.

Saturday, 27 August 2016

Magnus vs Helynna - Mangled Metal, 0 Points

Our last game was fun but there was definitely a sense that neither of us knew quite what we were doing with our casters, so we decided to play another 0 Point game before expanding our lists.

Army Lists

Magnus the Traitor
Mangler
Rover

vs
Magister Helynna
Manticore
Chimera
Griffon

Scenario

Assassination. Kill the enemy caster.

Set Up

Myantek won the roll and chose to go first. I decided to pick my side because with no pathfinder that crater looked like a pain to deal with. Myantek set upon her left hand side while I set up on my right with an eye to getting on the hill.

Turn 1

Retribution

The Chimera Apparated forward (place this model anywhere completely within 2 inches). Helynna cast Rhythm of War (Warjacks in the battlegroup can advance 3 inches after all models have activated.) and Deceleration (+2 ARM vs Ranged and Magic attacks) and then advanced. The Griffon, Chimera, and Manticore all ran, then the whole battlegroup advanced another 3" thanks to Rhythm of War.

Mercs

Magnus put Blur (+3 Defense against range and magic attacks.) on himself, Snipe (+4 Rng on target model.) on the Rover, and Death Ward (+2 ARM and pick hit locations.) on the Mangler, then advanced up behind the hill. The Mangler ran on to the hill, but the Rover didn't have quite enough movement to get on and ended up behind it.

Turn 2

Retribution

Helynna paid one focus to upkeep Rhythm of War. The Chimera Apparated forward another 2". The Chimera, Griffon, and Manticore all advanced, with the Chimera 10" away from the Mangler. Helynna cast Obliteration (Cost 4, Rng 10, AOE 5, POW 15) though the arc node at the Mangler, but a low damage roll meant it bounced off thanks to Death Ward. The jacks then all backed out of retaliation range thanks to Rhythm of War.

Mercs

Magnus upkept everything for free thanks to his Resourceful ability and assigned one focus to the Rover. The Rover advanced and shot at the Chimera, boosting to hit and damage. A good roll did 13 damage to the jack, blowing off its power field. Magnus and the Mangler simply advanced.

Turn 3

Retribution

Helynna upkept Rhythm of War and assigned two focus to the Manticore. The Manticore advanced and rolled 1 for the number of shots it had this turn. It shot at the Mangler with a boosted to hit roll but with bad dice it missed due to the elevation bonus of the Mangler being on the hill. The Chimera and Griffon moved back and Helynna advanced forward and fixed 4 points of damage on the Chimera. The Manticore then used its Rhythm of War move to back up out of charge range.

Mercs

Magnus upkept all his spells and assigned one focus to the Rover. The Rover advanced and with another good damage roll crippled the Chimer's right arm system. The Mangler then advanced into charge range of the Manticore, daring it to come in. Magnus advanced off the hill behind the Rover.

Turn 4

Retribution

Helynna again upkept Rhythm of War. Helynna activated first and used her feat (+3 ARM to battlegroup. Remove all damage from warjack power fields. Ignore the effects of crippled systems for one ). She then cast Obliteration though the Chimera at the Rover doing 5 damage. Magnus spent a focus to shrug off damage from the blast. The Manticore aimed and shot the Rover doing another 6 points of damage. The Chimera and Manticore then retreated using Rhythm of War while the Griffon advanced forward.

Mercs

Magnus upkept all his spells and assigned one focus to the Rover. It advanced and shot the Chimera for 7 damage, breaking its just fixed power field. The Mangler moved back into charge range of the Manticore. Magnus advanced to the Rover and fixed 3 points of damage.

Turn 5

Retribution

Helynna upkept Rhythm of War and assigned two focus to both the Manticore and the Griffon. The Manticore spent a focus to (Gain +3 STR) and charged the Mangler. It hit but a bad damage roll meant it only did 4 which I assigned to column three thanks to Death Ward. The Manticore hit again with its second initial attack but bounced, bought an attack and did 3 more.

The Griffon then charged the Rover and did 6 damage. The shield attack bounced, but it bought and boosted a second attack and did 5 more damage. Helynna advanced and fixed 5 more damage on the Chimera, which at this point between the repairs and feat had 15 damage points fixed on it so far. The Chimera then advanced thanks to Rhythm of War.

Mercs

Magnus upkept his spells again and assigned two focus to both the Rover and Mangler. He then advanced, used his feat Hit and Run (Models in battlegroup gain Parry. After all models have activated all the models in his battlegroup can run for free.) and fixed 3 more points on the Rover. Last he cast Iron Aggression (Target warjack may run, charge, or slam for free. Melee attack rolls on the warjack are boosted.) on the Mangler.

The Mangler then advanced and used its Thresher *attack (This model makes one attack against every target in its melee range and LOS. Thresher attacks are simultaneous.). This did 8 damage to the Griffon and crippled its shield. Between the Manglers two initial attacks and three more bought attacks it wrecked the Manticore.

The Rover then attacked the Griffon. It missed its initial Axe attack, hit with the Shield for 2 points, missed with its Point Blank (may make a melee attack with its ranged weapon with a .5" melee range) gun shot. It then bought an attack and did 3 points, bought and missed, bought and did 4 points more. The whole battlegroup then ran, with the Mangler engaging Helynna and the Chimera, and the Rover getting close with Magnus behind it.

Turn 6

Retribution

The Chimera Apparated behind the Mangler. Helynna assigned one focus to the Griffon. She then cast Obliteration though the Chimera at Magnus needing to hit DEF 17 thanks to Blur. A boosted roll made it and hit Magnus for 7 points of damage. She then risked the free strike from the Mangler to shoot at him and took 13 points of damage, reducing her to 3 points. Her shot missed.

The Griffon then advanced and was just in melee range of Magnus. A solid hit did 9 more points of damage leaving him at one. The Chimera then advanced and made it to melee range. Spending its focus to boost to hit it did, and managed to do the 1 point of damage it needed to kill Magnus.

Afterward

Defenstrator

There were two things to blame for that loss. The first was the Rover. As the saying goes, you had one job. The Griffon was sitting in front of it, damaged with no Shield, and it had six attacks. Could it close the deal? Nope. That left the Griffon around to deal the big smack to Magnus that put him in danger range.

The other problem was me screwing up. I had a plan for the turn, which was kill the two jacks and then put pressure on Helynna, and followed it even though the Griffon lived. What I should have done was use my feat to reposition and trap the Griffon, making sure I could kill it next turn while keeping Magnus safe. Then it would have been Magnus and his two heavies against Helynna and her one light.

Myantek

I got lucky. He says that there are key things he did wrong, etc. I got lucky. I figured there wasn't a whole lot of options on my last turn. He was going to catch me no matter where I went to hide so I went for it and did just enough damage to get the win.

Sunday, 14 August 2016

Magnus vs Helynna - Mangled Metal, 0 Points

It's been a while since the last update. But Warmachine and Hordes MkIII has arrived and we have been enjoying it. Myantek and I decided to play the armies that we had not been using as much, so she bought the Retribution Battlebox and I bought a Rover, which gave us each the core units of the Journeyman League. We play big games on Friday with our friends and on Sunday evenings will be doing our own Journeyman games.

Army Lists

Magnus the Traitor
Mangler
Rover

vs

Magister Helynna
Manticore
Griffon
Chimera

Scenario

The scenario was simple, kill the enemy caster.

Set Up

I won the roll to go first and Myantek picked the side. With just the warcaster and two jacks deployment was straightforward. I placed centrally with an eye for cover as I advanced. Myantek did the same opposite me.

Turn 1

Mercs

Magnus put Snipe (+4 Rng on target model) on the Rover, Blur (+3 Defense against range and magic attacks) on himself, and Death Ward (+2 ARM and pick hit locations) on the Mangler. He then charged the Griffon and moved 8 inches before his turned ended with the failed charge. The Mangler and Rover both ran.

Retribution

The Griffon used its Fleet ability to gain +2 movement and advanced 8 inches. The Chimera Apparated (place this model anywhere completely within 2 inches) and advanced. The Chimera advanced and placed a wall template. Helynna advanced and cast Deceleration (+2 ARM vs Ranged and Magic attacks) and Rhythm of War (Warjacks in the battlegroup can advance 3 inches after all models have activated). The jacks then moved forward another 3 inches.

Turn 2

Mercs

Magnus upkept all the spells on his battlegroup for free thanks to his Resourceful ability, and assigned one focus to the Rover. The Rover advanced and shot at Helynna, but missed even though it boosted to hit. Magnus then advanced and put Blur on the Rover, and the Mangler ran to block line of sight to Magnus.

Retribution

Helynna spent one focus to upkeep Rhythm of War and assigned one focus to the Manticore. The Manticore advanced and shot. Myantek rolled two for the number of shots on its d3. It hit the Mangler with the first shot but the boosted damage still bounced thanks to Death Ward. The second shot missed. The Chimera Apparated forward. Helynna cast Obliteration ( Cost 4, Rng 10, AOE 5, POW 15) through it at the Rover, hit, boosted damage and did five damage to the one column. Magnus spent a focus to prevent the damage from the AOE. The Warjacks then repositioned 3 inches.

Turn 3

Mercs

Magnus upkept for free due to Resourceful, and assigned one focus to the Rover. The Rover advanced and shot the Griffon, doing 2 points of damage. Magnus then used his Feat, Hit and Run (Models in battlegroup gain Parry. After all models have activated all the models in his battlegroup can run for free.) and charged, ending his activation.. The Mangler also ran. During the feat move the Mangler and Rover ran to engage Helynna, while Magnus ran past to safety.

Retribution

Helynna upkept nothing and assigned one focus to both the Chimera and Griffon. The Chimera Apparated behind the Mangler. The Griffon smashed the Mangler with a roll of 6,5,5, for 8 points, then bounced off with the shield. Helynna struck the Mangler twice, pushing it five inches away with her due to her staffs Force Grip (Instead of causing damage, an enemy model hit by this attack can be pushed up to 3" in any direction.). The Chimera then charged Magnus and hit with its combo strike. Magnus spent a focus to reduce the damage but still took 7 points. The Manticore advanced, spent a focus to gain +3 Strength, and did 8 damage to the Mangler.

Turn 4

Mercs

Magnus upkept for free again and assigned two focus to both the Mangler and the Rover. Magnus attacked the Chimer and missed, then cast Iron Aggression (Target warjack may run, charge, or slam for free. Melee attack rolls on the warjack are boosted.) the Mangler. The Mangler then advanced toward Helynna taking 5 damage from a free strike from the Chimera. It then used its Thresher special attack, striking the Griffon for 10 points of damage. Boosting the attack on Helynna it did 5 points of damage, then bought and boosted to hit another attack for 6 more, with Helynna spending focus to reduce both those hits.

The Rover then moved in, and finished Helynna off.

Afterward

Defenstrator

Well that was interesting. I felt I had to get in on Myantek right away as she was going to just out shoot me or yank a jack in with Helynna's staff and tear me apart piecemeal. So I popped my feat and rushed her. Was it the right move? I got away with it, but I think that was more because of Myantek's inexperience with playing Helynna rather than any tactical brilliance on my part.

Myantek

I'm not used to assigning focus. Too many games with Hordes where I can do things on the fly. Also, Kaya can get herself out of trouble much easier than Helynna can. I made a lot of mistakes. Mostly due to inexperience with the models (for instance, Apparate is supposed to happen in the maintenance phase, oops).

Helynna is certainly an interesting caster. I can see possibilities but balancing 'jacks and spells is going to be the tricky part.

Friday, 30 October 2015

Thorn is an effective, if expensive, arc node. I feel that regular Lancers are overpriced and really only worth 5 points, so why shell out 8 points for Thorn? There are a few of reasons.

First it has a higher MAT and POW than a regular Lancer, and so it can be used more effectively offensively. This especially combines well with the second reason, its ability to move an additional 3" once per turn after it channels a spell. These combine together to let the jack be a decent assassin with a few casters. Epic Stryker, for example, can cast Polarity Field through Thorn onto itself, making it effectively MAT 9 POW 15 with 14" of threat range. And thanks to the out of activation move, it doesn't have to take that 14" in a straight line.

Lastly, all three Haleys like to take an Arc Node, and its affinity with them allows it to channel while engaged, which deals with an arc nodes biggest weakness. It also has a funny Imprint called Disengage which allows it to move away from things that miss it, but I find I don't use it too often as it costs a focus, and opponents going after Thorn usually make sure they're going to hit.

I converted this model a bit. The spear came bent and eventually broke, so I replaced the front shaft with brass rod. This gave it a similar look to my Centurion, so I also added a power cord to the spear made out of guitar wire to tie the two together even more. It already had a Cygnus on it and its shield, so I added the quartered pattern I have on a number of other models in the army.